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Contemporary Mexican society and culture
Contemporary Mexican society and culture
Contemporary Mexican society and culture
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In the book, Mexico Barbaros, written by John Turner, the author gathered graphic stories and details about Mexico’s government, cruel politics, and history through his journeys from Mexico Viejo and from civilian’s experiences. He mentions the social injustice that took place during and after the Spanish conquest with an emphasis on how slavery was and still remains a powerful tool today.
Turner mainly focuses on how Mexico does not grant its citizens basic constitutional rights like freedom of speech or free electoral elections. Some of which is evident since everything seems to have a fixed price due to poverty in the early 1900’s. For instance, political positions are influenced by others and most of the decisions regarding constitutional rights are controlled by first class citizens. In 1908, the abolishment of civil rights popularized human slavery in the Yucatan Peninsula, which is divided into Campeche and Quintana Roo. This habited area is highly fertilized and cultivated by its inhabitants, the Yaquis
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Indians, who originate from Sonora and the Mayan Indians. In continuance, the author gives a brief analysis of how and why the Spaniards decided to overrun the Mayan territory. Apparently, the Mayans and the Yaquis were sold similar to the way that animals or land were. They received a price that ranged from four hundred dollars and were mistreated by their owners. The slaves were tortured for generations, killed at any given moment, and were never granted their freedom. Many of the landowners would enjoy practicing immoral punishments to the enslaved civilians. The only way a slave at that time period would receive their freedom would be due to a political or constitutional improvement. The author also explains the history of the Yaquis. The Yaquis were considered to be one of the hardest workers in Sonora. E. F. Trout, a mine worker in Sonora exclaimed, "Un trabajador yaqui vale por dos norteamericanos y por tres mexicanos". In other words, a Yaqui was worth more than any other Mexican or American because of their productive contribution. After the wars the Yaquis were forced to fight in, some were hunted, killed, and tortured in order to transfer the Indians back to Yucatan in 1905. There were reports of Yaquis even being drowned or having their ears cut off by officials, which was not considered as immoral or an act against other races. The Generals and soldiers continued this practice because they were rewarded and they did not want the Yaquis to revolt. Sometimes the soldiers would wait for the Yaquis to come down the mountains to purchase their essentials and then end up shooting the Yaquis with their rifles. As a result, the Yaquis were forced unwillingly to return to their native land in Sonora and were enslaved. This book contains the reality of Mexico’s culture and history.
I was extremely shocked when I read the book because the Yaquis were one of the many tribes that had to undergo a social conduct based on race and gender. It is hard to believe that the Yaquis received less civil rights than other Mexicans or Spaniards. Relatively to it being hard for the Yaquis to gain political and social rights, many Mexicans today still suffer from this oppression since they are denied equality. For example, the reading from week five mentions how Mexican states offered a great number of jobs, but at extremely low wages. They also had places near the northern borders where workers were offered better payments, but the living conditions were more costly. This caused the Mexicans to work hard, but get nowhere due to their financial situation. The reading supports the author’s statement of how poverty affected a Mexican’s daily life and prevented them from
succeeding. In conclusion, Mexico is a country that offers their people constitutional rights, but does not enforce them properly, since many of their rights are not taken into consideration. Locations like the Yucatan Peninsula continue to suffer from this pastoral economy where human slavery exists. The Yaquis are considered to be inferior when compared to any other race even though their skills and complexions are better than other races. The book demonstrated how corruptive Mexico’s government controls individual’s freedom and how conquest still exists. I also learned and understood the Mexican history better and became more interested in it, especially because I originate from the same place as the president at that time period. I highly recommend anyone to read this book because it made me question if Mexicans really know what occurred in their native country.
Starting with the first chapter, Deverell examines the racial and ethnic violence that took place in the wake of American defeat. In no more than thirty years or so, ethnic relations had appeased and the Mexican people were outnumbered quickly (as well as economically marginalized and politically disenfranchised), as the second chapter discloses. The author examines a variety of topics to further his case but the most compelling and captivating sections of the book come into the third, fourth and fifth chapters. The third chapter focuses its attention
At the end of article they describe the pain Joaquín Murieta endured for being a honest and innocent man: “His soul swelled beyond its former boundaries, and the barriers of honor, rocked into atoms by the strong passion which shook his heart like an earthquake, crumbled and fell” (1). At the current time it didn 't matter if you were honest or not with law. If you weren 't white in 1850, you were considered an outsider. Since Joaquín Murieta was Mexican, he was not persecuted because of his transgression but because he was Mexican. The writer wanted to give you an idea of what it felt to be a Mexican and the mistreatment they got from the white
Alfredo Corchado — is the author of the book named " Midnight in Mexico:A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness”. We are, probably, all interested in finding out the facts, news, and gossips about Mexico. This country was always associated with something mysterious. For me personally, the title of the book seemed to be very gripping, I was interested in revealing the secrets of life in Mexico, thus I decided to read this book. I was really curious, what can Alfredo Corchado tell me about the life in this country, the country, where the constant massacre is the picture, people used to see. In his book, the author tells the reader about the real situations, which took place in Mexico, reveals the secrets of the people’s lives and tells the story from the “inside”. He describes the way he lives his life, and does his work. The " Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness” is a memoir. Author tries to transform his own experience into the story line. Corchado shows the reader the darkest episodes of Mexican society, while relying on his own experience.
Teja, Jesus F. De La. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin: State House Press, 1991.
“The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable
6. Love, Edgar F. “Negro Resistance to Spanish Rule in Colonial Mexico.” The Journal of Negro History 52, no. 2 (1967): 89-103.
In the years following the Spanish conquests, the southwest region of the United States developed into Spanish colonial territory. Indians, Spaniards, and blacks occupied this territory in which the shortage of Spanish women led to the miscegenation of these cultures. The result of mixing these races was a homogenization of the people of various cultures that came to be called mestizos and mulattos who, like present day Mexican Americans, inherited two distinct cultures that would make their culture rich, yet somewhat confusi...
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
In schools, students are being taught wrong information. “Our gods were vanquished after the fall of Tenochtitlan as were our traditions. Our warriors and nobles were eradicated, our children starved and our women ravished by the white conquerors and their allies.” (157). In books across America, the Spaniards were said to be good people, but the way that Huitzitzilin described what happened, shows the complete opposite of how the Spaniards actually were.
In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the corruption of the government troops, and the revolutionary zeal behind the inspiring causes of the revolution. In vivid detail and honest truth, Azuela reveals the actuality of the extent of turmoil that plagued Mexico and its people during the revolution. However, before one can acknowledge The Underdogs as a reflection of the Mexican Revolution one must have an understanding the political state of Mexico prior to the Revolution and the presidents who reigned during it.
In In the summer of 1968, Mexico was experiencing the beginning of a new student movement. The students sought liberal reform from the political system in Mexico. These students were determined to reveal the realities of poverty and misery and corruption in their country. (Guttmann) They were involved in different movements that would lead up to one event that would change the lives of everyone, “The Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968”. A day that ended the lives and shattered the dreams of many people. This event was the confirmation that the government could not be trusted and their lives would be determined by the actions they would take. This day would be brushed underneath the carpet and never spoken about for the sake
Bladerrama, Francisco E., Raymond Rodriguez. Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. Alburquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. Galarza, Ernesto. A. Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story.
Beginning in 1845 and ending in 1850 a series of events took place that would come to be known as the Mexican war and the Texas Revolution. This paper will give an overview on not only the events that occurred (battles, treaties, negotiations, ect.) But also the politics and reasoning behind it all. This was a war that involved America and Mexico fighting over Texas. That was the base for the entire ordeal. This series of events contained some of the most dramatic war strategy that has ever been implemented.
Life in Mexico was, before the Revolution, defined by the figure of the patron that held all of power in a certain area. Juan Preciado, who was born in an urban city outside of Comala, “came to Comala because [he] had been told that [his] father, a man named Pedro Paramo lived there” (1). He initially was unaware of the general dislike that his father was subjected to in that area of Mexico. Pedro was regarded as “[l]iving bile” (1) by the people that still inhabited Comala, a classification that Juan did not expect. This reveals that it was not known by those outside of the patron’s dominion of the cruel abuse that they levied upon their people. Pedro Paramo held...
Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.